Motor-starting mechanism



- 'M. R. HUTCHESOIL 1 Moms swarms MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED IAN-4,1918- Patentedfiun 10, 1.919.

HAS 4 TTOR/VEY MILLER REEsE nurrcmsoiv, 0E WEST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY.

MOTOBFSTARTING MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters-Patent.

Patented June10, 1919.

Application filed January 4, 1918. Serial No. 210,395.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MILLER REEsE HUToH- IsoN, a citizen of the United States, and resident of West Orange, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have 1nvented certain new and useful Improvements in Motor-Starting Mechanism, of whlch the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to starting and restarting apparatus for motor vehicles having internal combustion motors and more particularly to the class of motor vehlcles of which the aeroplane is an example, although it includes certain features wh ch are applicable to other internal combustlon motors particularly large or hlgh power motors intended for various 1nterm1ttent uses, as for instance, aeroplanes, trucks, automobiles, etc., where the power of the motor is frequently applied to drlve the vehicle or other load up an incline against gravity, the vehicle then being permitted to glide or coast downward under the influence of gravity with the motor shut off but st1ll connected to the propelling mechamsm so that the motor is driven by the propelllng mechanism instead of vice versa. The wellknown electric m0t0r-storage battery starters would have to be very powerful-to operate satisfactorily on the larger motors and hence are not used on aeroplanes because of their excessive weight, nor on trucks because of the expense.

In the ease of aeroplanes,.the downward glides and dives by gravitycover enormous distances and the speeds attalnab-le by gravity alone are so great that continued motor propulsion would be dangerous yet, 1n the aeroplane, the propeller 1s usually dlrectly connected to the crank shaft and throttllng down is not adequate or reliable. Hence it is customary for the operator to shut off his motor completely under such conditions, thus making it necessary to re-start the motor if the flight is to be continued after the end of the glide or dive. At present the only way of accomplishing this is to depend upon head pressure of the air upon the propeller keeping up the spln of the crank shaft and motor. Hence when an aeroplane is aloft and the operator cuts oil the motor to volplane, it is sometimes necessary to take a vertical dive of hundreds of feet in order to get sufficient air pressure against the propeller to spin the engine to the desired speed. Sometimes there is not room to take such a dive and sometimes the engine refuses to spin and in such case the operator is forced to land forthwith, often times in enemy territory and always at great danger to himself because he has no opportunity to select a safe landing field.

f he makes a safe landing it is then necessary for the operator to stand in front of the aeroplane and crank the motor using the propeller as a lever. This is a dangerous operation even when starting out with a cold motor, but it is much more dangerous when re-starting after alighting because of the danger of pre-ignition from the hot engine. Many fatalities have occurred from this cause.

The preferred embodiment of my invention is therefore a self-starting and re-start- 111g aeroplane having an auxiliary internal combustion motor, preferably of small size and preferably air cooled, adapted to be con nected in operative relation to the main propelling motor to drive the latter at or above its starting speed.

Where the auxiliary motor is small, I employ power multiplying, speed reducing gearing. As the auxiliary motor will be turning at relatively high speed when turning the main motor at slow speed, I provide an over-running clutch or disconnectin mechanism such as a centrifugally controlled speed limit clutch to prevent the main motor from driving the auxiliary motor through the multiplying gear at speeds which would be dangerous to the auxiliary motor.

It is desirable, however, that the two motors be connected in reciprocal driving relation so that the propeller shaft of the main motor can be utilized to drive the auxiliary motor at a speed sui'licient to start it. A convenient way to do this is to have two sets of power transmitting gearing each provided with overrunning clutches, the clutch in the multiplying gearing being adapted to grip when the auxiliary motor acts as the driver and another gearing of less ratio or even a reducing ratio to grip when the direc tion of power transmission is reversed and the auxiliary motor becomes the driven member.

l/Vith such an arrangement, the main propelling motor may be operated either simultaneously or alternately with the auxiliary motor. In case of glides and dives the auxiliary motor may be started by the main propelling mot-or before-the latter is shut off for the glide or dive. The auxiliary mosmall power; it becomes feasible to tor will then assist the propeller in keeping the main motor spinning at the desired speed, without contributing apprecit ble propelling power such as might dangerously increase the gliding or diving speed of the aeroplane. Then when the operator again desiresto'proceed on a level or resume climbing, the main propelling motor being positively driven by the auxiliary motor at a safe starting speed, can be turned on again without the necessity of steep dives to spin the motor througlr the propeller and without requiring the operator to exercise care or skill in timing his re-starting with reference to the speed of his dive.

The auxiliary motor'being of relatively 4 employ a small friction clutch to throw the latter into and out of operative relation to the propeller shaft without adding materially to the weight of the machine. This makes it possible to start the auxiliary motor by hand and then throw in the clutch to start the main motor, when first starting out on a trip, or whenever for any reason, it has become necessary to shut ofi both motors at thesame time. c

When the propeller shaft and the auxiliary motor are connected in reciprocal driving relation it is possible to dive with both motors shut off andto' have the gearing such that the propeller-turning at speeds too slow to start the main propelling motor, will nevertheless spin the auxiliary motor at speeds sufficient to start it,-and the latter upon starting will n turn'speed up the main y motor to its starting speed.

The above functions, particularly the feature of having the auxiliary motor in reciprocal relation to the main motor may be usefully employed on high power trucks, automobiles, etc. In such case, the auxiliary motor may be started by hand and used to start the main motor, The auxiliary motor may be continued in operation' or may be cut off duringthe run. In the latter case the clutch may be thrown in andthe auxiliary motor started just before the vehicle is brought to a standstill. The main motor may then be stoppedand the auxiliary motor allowed to'idleuntil such time as it"is desired to re-start the vehicle, whereupon the clutch may be thrown in-and the main motor started.

A desirable embodiment of my invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a top plan view diagrammati cally indicating the relative arrangement of parts constituting my present invention;

Fig. 2 is a view of the motors and trans mission mechanism, the motors being indicated in plan-outline and the transmission in horizontal section;

Fig. 3 is a view showing an arrangement ning clutch to transmitpowerfromshaft 4: to shaft 10 preferablyair cooled. Certain well-known.

types of motor cycle engines are suitable for this purpose.

The auxiliary motor may be connected to rotate the shaft 4: and the fly wheel5 and intervening crank shaft to the; main. motor 3 which is rigidly secured upon through any suitable transmission connections. As shown'in the-drawings, the-auxil- 1ary-motor-6 has 1ts crank shaft 7 provided witha small gear 8 meshing with a larger gear 9 on shaft 10 carrying. pinion 11,

adapted to mesh with gear 12 mounted'on shaft 4.

Preferably, however, the gear 12 is loose upon shaft a and adaptedto be connected thereto through the medium of a. friction.

clutch. One member of this clutch is shown as a hollow cone member 13 integral with gear 12. The other clutch member is the cone 14;keyed-t0 but slidably mounted on shaft 4 and adapted to be forced into and out of frictional engagement with the hollow cone 13 by any suitable controlling. or operating mechanism. This is indicated by the slip collar- 15, lever 16, pivoted at'17 on bracket 18 andconnected to an operating member 19.

When it is desired-that the main driving. motor 2 becapableof-transmitting its powerto drive the auxiliary motor 6, Tprovide a pinion 20 adaptedto be driven by shaft 4 and meshing with gear 21 on shaft 10. Preferably-the gear 20 is integralwith gear12 and clutch member 13.

The gear 21 is provided with an overrundevice adapted to grip shaft-10 but to-slipwhen power is applied in the opposite direction from shaft 10 toward shafts;

The arrangement of overrunning. clutches for connecting and disconnecting pinion 11 and gear 21 is clearly indicated in Fig. 3.

When the shaft 10 is driven in the direction of the arrow'and' the pinion 11 is retarded,

as when motor-2 is not operating, the rolling cylinders 22, 22 will wedge between the periphery of the shaft 10 and the cam surfaces 23,23 of the recesses in whichthey, are 10- cated. Whenever the .pinion 11 speeds up or the shaft 10 slows down the cylinders are rolled backward toward the large end of their respectiverecesses and hence will not transmit any power from pinion 11 to shaft 10. The. gear 21 has recesses and rolling cylinders 24, 24, 24, exactly like 22 and 23 of gear 11, except that the inclined surfaces are reversely arranged. Hence, when the shaft 10 is rotating at a speed to drive the pinion 11, it will roll the cylinder 24 toward the larger end of the recesses where they will not bind and will not transmit power. Simi-' larly when the direction of power transmis sion is reversed and the cylinders 22 slip, the cylinders 24 will grip. It will be understood that the direction of transmission of power depends entirely upon the relative speeds, since the parts never reverse but rotate only in one direction as indicated by the arrows.

It will be noted that in the proportion shown, gear 9 has about 1 revolution for every 2 revolutions of gear 7 and that gear 12 has about 6 revolutions for 1 revolution of pinion 11 so that in the proportion shown, the auxiliary motor 6 will be capable of driving the main motor 2 at approximately onetwelfth the speed of said auxiliary motor. It will also be noted in the proportions shown the gear 21 rotates about half as fast as gear 20 and gear 7 rotates about twice as fast as gear 9, so that when the main motor 2 drives the auxiliary motor 6, their revolutions per minute are substantially the same.

It will be understood, however, that the speed transmission ratios in both directions may be widely varied from those above indicated and it may be found useful to arrange the gearing so that main motor 2 will drive auxiliary motor 6 at rates much less than those of said main motor. 7

While there is a peculiar inter-relation and combination of the above described auxiliary motor and power transmitting connections in combination with an aeroplane in which the propeller is rigidly connected to the main motor shaft, making it possible to utilize the head pressure on the propeller to rotate and start the auxiliary motor, it is obvious that the parts shown in Fig. 2 are capable of useful employment in the various other relations and for the other purposes hereinabove indicated.

While I have shown and described a preferred form of my device, it will be obvious that various omissions and substitutions of parts may be made by those skilled in the art, as for instance, the gear 12 may be locked to the shaft 4 directly instead of through the medium of the friction clutch 14, and where such clutch is used it is not necessary to use an overrunning clutch for locking the gear 11 to the shaft 10.

I claim:

1. A screw propelled flying machine and motive means therefor, including two internal combustion motors, one large and the other small and independently energized, in

motors, one large and the other small, in

combination with means including a friction clutch and power multiplying speed reducing gearing between the large motor and the small motor whereby the small n10- tor at its normal speed may drive the large motor at its starting speed and means including an overrunning clutch for preventing the large motor at its normal speed from driving the small motor at speeds exceeding its maximum safe running speed.

3. A motor vehicle and motive means therefor, including two internal combustion motors, one large and one small, in combination with reciprocal power transmitting connections whereby the large motor may drive the small motor at a desired speed and the small motor may drive the large motor at much less speed.

4. A motor vehicle and motive means therefor including two internal combustion motors, one large and one small, in combination with reciprocal power transmitting connections whereby the small motor at normal speed may drive the large motor at starting speed and whereby the large motor at normal speed may drive the small motor at a speed suficient for starting the small motor but not exceeding its maximum safe running speed.

5. A motor vehicle and motive means therefor including two internal combustion motors, one large and one small, in combination with reciprocal power transmitting connections including a friction clutch, whereby the large motor may drive the small motor at a desired speed and the small motor may drive the large motor at much less speed.

6. A motor vehicle and motive means therefor including two internal combustion motors, one large and one small, in combination with reciprocal power transmitting connections including two sets of gearing and overrunning clutches for each, whereby the large motor may drive the small motor at a desired speed and the small motor may drive the large motor at much less speed.

7. A flying machine and motive means therefor including an internal combustion motor, a screw propeller rigidly connected with the crank shaft of said motor whereby air pressure on the propeller may be utilized to spin the motor, in combination with an auxiliary internal combustion motor and moegisa nower transmitting connections including be utilized to's'pin 'said'auxiliary motor at two sets of gearing, overrunning clutches 1n speeds suflicient forstartingbut'not exceedeach set, and a friction clutch forboth sets, ing itsmaximum 'safe'runningspeed. 10 whereby said auxiliary motor at' normal Signed at'New York city, in the county-of 5 speed may drive said first mentioned motor New York and State ofNew. York, this 31st at starting speeds and whereby-powerfrom day ofDecember, A; D. 1917. said main motor orfrom said propellermay' MILLEIR REESE HUTCHISON.

Copies of this patent may be-obtained for five cents each; by addressing the Commissioner of'Tatents,

- Washington, DEG? 

